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State X recently decided to cut state funding for the public
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27 Sep 2011, 08:28

5

00:00

A

B

C

D

E

Difficulty:

15% (low)

Question Stats:

81%(01:57) correct 19%(02:04) wrong based on 538 sessions

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State X recently decided to cut state funding for the public library system in County X. To help counteract this cut in funding, the county library system has increased library late fees from $.10 per day to $.12 per day. Since the fee increase, library administrators have seen no decline in the number of overdue books. The director of the county library system concludes that the fee hike has helped to counteract the cut in state funding.

Which of the following statements, if true, most strengthens the director’s claim?

(A) Since the fee increase, library administrators have noted a significant decrease in the number of books borrowed each day.

(B) The library system incurred minor costs to make its visitors aware of the late fee increase.

(C) Since the fee increase, there has been no significant change in the average number of days that books are overdue before they are returned.

(D) The library system in County X tracks its books through a very advanced database system, allowing library administrators to have access to very accurate statistics on the number of overdue books at any given time.

(E) Since the reduction in state funding, the library system in County X has eliminated 10% of its staff, creating a 2% reduction in costs.

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27 Sep 2011, 11:54

1

2

C is right.

Argument: State funding stopped > library increased late fee from 10 cents to 12 > people did not change their habits of returning books late > with the increase in late fee, library compensated for state funding

to strengthen this argument, we want answer choice which will tell us that even if the late fee was increased, the income due to late fee charging remained same or increased.

A - Less books borrowed less profit. Weakens the argument. B - Neutral to the argumentC - This tells us that people did not notice the change in late fee - right answerD - out of scopeE - Neutral

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28 Sep 2011, 04:57

I agree the answer is C.. However, I see that A can also strengthen the argument.

The library admins say that there has been no decline in the number of overdue books after the price change. A states that the number of books borrowed has decreased. It must imply that though the number of books borrowed has decreased significantly, and since the admins have not seen any decline in number of overdue books, I feel that A is strengthening the argument!

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10 Mar 2014, 20:01

Option C.State X has cut funding by some unknown amt.County X seeks to replace that amt. with a late fee increase of a specific amt.Meanwhile no. of overdue books has not declined.Director concludes that cut in funding has been met.The formula for calculation of total late fee earning=no. of overdue books*amt. of late fee*no of days. books are overdue.C says avg. no of days books are overdue has not changed which eliminates the possibility that it has declined thereby strengthening the argument.

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14 Jan 2016, 03:35

2

State X recently decided to cut state funding for the public library system in County X. To help counteract this cut in funding, the county library system has increased library late fees from $.10 per day to $.12 per day. Since the fee increase, library administrators have seen no decline in the number of overdue books. The director of the county library system concludes that the fee hike has helped to counteract the cut in state funding. Which of the following statements, if true, most strengthens the director’s claim?

A. Since the fee increase, library administrators have noted a significant decrease in the number of books borrowed each day.

B. The library system incurred minor costs to make its visitors aware of the late fee increase.

C. Since the fee increase, there has been no significant change in the average number of days that books are overdue before they are returned.

D. The library system in County X tracks its books through a very advanced database system, allowing library administrators to have access to very accurate statistics on the number of overdue books at any given time.

E. Since the reduction in state funding, the library system in County X has eliminated 10% of its staff, creating a 2% reduction in costs.
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14 Jan 2016, 04:31

State X recently decided to cut state funding for the public library system in County X. To help counteract this cut in funding, the county library system has increased library late fees from $.10 per day to $.12 per day. Since the fee increase, library administrators have seen no decline in the number of overdue books. The director of the county library system concludes that the fee hike has helped to counteract the cut in state funding. Which of the following statements, if true, most strengthens the director’s claim?

A. Since the fee increase, library administrators have noted a significant decrease in the number of books borrowed each day.

B. The library system incurred minor costs to make its visitors aware of the late fee increase.

C. Since the fee increase, there has been no significant change in the average number of days that books are overdue before they are returned.

D. The library system in County X tracks its books through a very advanced database system, allowing library administrators to have access to very accurate statistics on the number of overdue books at any given time.

E. Since the reduction in state funding, the library system in County X has eliminated 10% of its staff, creating a 2%reduction in costs.

Let's us assume that average number of days for overdued books------10 days

Now late fine--------> 0.1 dollar. It will come to 0.1x10 = 1 USD (income for library)

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14 Jan 2016, 06:44

sun01 wrote:

State X recently decided to cut state funding for the public library system in County X. To help counteract this cut in funding, the county library system has increased library late fees from $.10 per day to $.12 per day. Since the fee increase, library administrators have seen no decline in the number of overdue books. The director of the county library system concludes that the fee hike has helped to counteract the cut in state funding. Which of the following statements, if true, most strengthens the director’s claim?

A. Since the fee increase, library administrators have noted a significant decrease in the number of books borrowed each day.

B. The library system incurred minor costs to make its visitors aware of the late fee increase.

C. Since the fee increase, there has been no significant change in the average number of days that books are overdue before they are returned.

D. The library system in County X tracks its books through a very advanced database system, allowing library administrators to have access to very accurate statistics on the number of overdue books at any given time.

E. Since the reduction in state funding, the library system in County X has eliminated 10% of its staff, creating a 2%reduction in costs.

Let's us assume that average number of days for overdued books------10 days

Now late fine--------> 0.1 dollar. It will come to 0.1x10 = 1 USD (income for library)

So,

Option C strengthens the conclusion.

: I thought B can also be a considered. But Once i read C, I didn't have any doubt. C is correct!

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31 Jan 2016, 07:54

We have to prove that the increased late fee is enough to fill the gap of funding.

(c) and (E) only talks about cost and fee

(C) it removes the possibility that the late fee collected by library is decreasing anyway because of the changeIf total late fee = overdue days * late fee per daythen to increase the late fee we have to increase both overdue days and late fee per day proportionatelybut if overdue days keeps on declining ( may be because the book borrowers wants to save some money by returning the book early) then the total late fee will go down. So this explains the scenario and hence the answer

(E) it talks about reducing the cost but not equalizing the fundings
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26 Jun 2016, 06:18

This is a curve ball from gmat prep. It says that the number of books remains same and that no negative consequence of the spending has occured on the revenueThis will only happen if the number of days the book is overdue increases.Therefore AC C is the answer.Assumption = gthere ahs to be something that will offset the cuts

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26 Jun 2016, 06:34

let me help here. Some tips first- Pre-Thinking always helps. after reading the argument pls do a pre-thinking after reading the question stem.See exactly what the question is asking.

here the argument says that the director , tp counteract the funding has increased fees on overdue books. In the last statement he says this has helped to counteract the problem of funding.

what does the above boldface mean in numbersi.e if they were getting $100 of funding before , now also after the funding stopped and late fees increased they are able to get $100 back.This implies people are taking books from library and students who always overdue them, suppose for 10 days they will also overdue for same number of days after the fee hike.This is how the library will re-coup their money.Now look at the answer choices and see how easy is to eliminate .

A. Since the fee increase, library administrators have noted a significant decrease in the number of books borrowed each day.this weakens

B. The library system incurred minor costs to make its visitors aware of the late fee increase.out of scope

C. Since the fee increase, there has been no significant change in the average number of days that books are overdue before they are returned.EXACTLY what i wrote above

D. The library system in County X tracks its books through a very advanced database system, allowing library administrators to have access to very accurate statistics on the number of overdue books at any given time.irrelevant

E. Since the reduction in state funding, the library system in County X has eliminated 10% of its staff, creating a 2%reduction in costs.we are not talking of removing staff nor mentioned in argument.

Answer is C

Pre thinking helps.It takes time at start but with practice you are able to average it between 10-15 sec for any problem.

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State X recently decided to cut state funding for the public
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16 Jan 2019, 23:55

kkalyan wrote:

State X recently decided to cut state funding for the public library system in County X. To help counteract this cut in funding, the county library system has increased library late fees from $.10 per day to $.12 per day. Since the fee increase, library administrators have seen no decline in the number of overdue books. The director of the county library system concludes that the fee hike has helped to counteract the cut in state funding.

Which of the following statements, if true, most strengthens the director’s claim?

(A) Since the fee increase, library administrators have noted a significant decrease in the number of books borrowed each day.

(B) The library system incurred minor costs to make its visitors aware of the late fee increase.

(C) Since the fee increase, there has been no significant change in the average number of days that books are overdue before they are returned.

(D) The library system in County X tracks its books through a very advanced database system, allowing library administrators to have access to very accurate statistics on the number of overdue books at any given time.

(E) Since the reduction in state funding, the library system in County X has eliminated 10% of its staff, creating a 2% reduction in costs.

Hi Can any expert please explain why option D is out of scope?IN order to strengthen an argument we can provide support to the premise, the conclusion or assumption and we could also weaken an objection to the argument.IN this question, Option D provides support to the premise of the argument that number of overdue books given in the passage is accurate.

Re: State X recently decided to cut state funding for the public
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17 Jan 2019, 00:16

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Hi there,

Your logic is solid for general strengthen techniques.

Here I would like to add a few points-

$ recovered from overdue books depends on two factors = # of overdue books & # of days the books are overdue.

The argument mentions only the former and directly jumps to the final conclusion. So here, we need to plug in the gaps by stating the second factor.

Look at (C) - the average # of days a book is overdue hasn't changed.Meaning, the total amount recovered will definitely increase. This definitely strengthens.

Now as for (D), yes you are correct it strengthens the premise stated about # of books but it still leaves the gap of # of days untouched. So it is not as good an option as (C).

Hope this is helpful.

nitesh50 wrote:

Hi Can any expert please explain why option D is out of scope?IN order to strengthen an argument we can provide support to the premise, the conclusion or assumption and we could also weaken an objection to the argument.IN this question, Option D provides support to the premise of the argument that number of overdue books given in the passage is accurate.